Delicate
by xoSweetMelody
Summary: Spencer Hastings always had her life planned out just how she thought it should be. However, since the death of her best friend Alison, nothing has gone the way she hoped it would, until she found Toby. Can she hold onto what she has while she is still searching for the truth after all these years?
1. Chapter 1

Spencer Hastings strolled casually into the halls of Rosewood High. Her cocoa-colored waves swished from left to right against her bare back. The heels of her shoes clicked in perfect rhythm against the newly waxed floor. She could see a hunched-over secretary packing up her things through the transparent office door. She jogged to it, pushing the entryway open and nearly tripping over the carpet.

"Hi. I'm so sorry but I really need my transcript."

The woman looked up at her through a pair of bifocals.

"Now."

"I'm sorry sweetheart, but I need to get going."

"Please?" Spencer felt her toes curl uncomfortably in her pointy heels.

Picking up a few more things, she shook her head, letting a few loose strands out of her elastic and stuffed some papers into an oversized purse. "Sorry, I'm required to leave the office by a certain time and I'm already running late."

"I know, it's a lot to ask but I really need it right now. I was supposed to mail my grades in yesterday."

"One day late and two days late isn't much of a difference."

Spencer sighed. Clearly, no one would understand the importance of what she was trying to accomplish. "Thank you...for your help."

Spencer was never one to show her true colors when she was angry, not since the last time her patience proved thin. What could she do? Her mind wandered back through the wreckage, trying to remember a less complicated time. However, her mind rested on something much more painful.

"I can't believe I'm going to be stuck here. I always thought I would be the one off to an Ivy-league university, gushing all about my latest discoveries to you over a Skype date."

"I know, Spence."

"Aria, come on you know that out of any of us, I deserved to be away from-"

Aria glared at her.

"You know what I mean. I was dreaming of dormitories before I even knew how to spell, and before 'A' screwed with all of us."

"But 'A' happened, to everyone, in a big way. 'A' didn't take this experience away from me, Hanna or Emily because it wasn't as important to us."

"Don't you get it?" Spencer stamped. " 'A' can't follow you to UCLA, Aria! 'A' can't follow Emily or Hanna either. 'A'' can't be in four places at once. I am the one that 'A' is going to be after, not you."

Aria shook her head. "You KNOW what 'A' is capable of. None of us are escaping! We are in just as much danger as you are."

...

She shook away from the memory just in time to realize the secretary was shooing her out.

"You can come back tomorrow, the office opens at eleven. Go along so I can lock up."

Taking a few deep breaths to calm her boiling blood, she waited a moment to reply, "Yes ma'am"

Her eyes lowered and she left with nothing but a racing pulse. Then, as if it were clockwork, she heard the dreaded beep.

You can run but you can't hide. -A

Squeezing the bridge of her nose between her pointer finger and her thumb, her eyes shyed away from the taunting message. When was she going to accept the fact that to everyone in Rosewood, she'd always be the haunted soul who was best friends with Alison?

The liar.

The Hastings family would never be able to recover from all of the events since Alison's death. Spencer could never recover from the whirlwind of deceit coming from all sides. She never felt like anyone was in her corner.

"Spencer."

She knew that voice, even after all this time it gave her butterflies. Her eyes locked with his, but her mouth was pressed closed. This was not the time.

"I can get the tran-"

"Shush!" A hand flew over his loose lips.

"Relax. Mrs. Lydon is already gone." He was barely audible beneath her hold.

"No."

"No what?"

"Stop it, Toby."

He ran his fingers through his hair. He had waited so long to hear her say his name again. "Before you go on with your lecture about me following you like a lost puppy, I'm here mapping out the school's new extension. They need more space, a new biology lab."

They stood there in silence. Not sure how to proceed.

In true Spencer fashion, she made the first move and brushed past him. "Good."

"I have the master key. I can get into her office and bring it by after I-"

She cut him off without turning around, not missing a step. "I'm not going home."

"Where are you going?"

Suddenly, her head spun in his direction. "I don't have to answer to you anymore."

Her eyes burned and her body weakened. God, 'A' was a bitch. Everything was ripped away from Spencer just as it became tangible. Right when things were falling into perfect harmony, her still-beating heart was ripped from her chest. All because she had decided to give in. She caved. After everything Spencer and the rest of the girls had been through, it was never a good idea. When Mona offered her a place on the team...she turned it down. It wasn't until Toby had convinced her that she should take...whoever the "As" were up on the offer that she actually considered it.

It was right after CeCe came into town. Everyone had an uneasy feeling about that girl, she knew something. She was up to something, no doubt. That's when Spencer found out that Toby had been on the "A" team for weeks, trying to uncover as much as he could to help the girls, he didn't want to see them get hurt. He should have known better than to expose his secret. Sure, Spencer would have been livid but the result of his carelessness was much worse than he anticipated.

Recalling even the smallest detail of the incident still made her stomach turn. She remembered the words that were hissed from behind her.

_"We know that you know, Spencer."_

She got the same shiver in her spine as the memory rolled through her mind like a film.

_"Your choice, you can join the 'A' team now...or we could settle it another way."_

_"What other way?"_

_"Well, Toby betrayed the team...so I guess he'll have to take one for the team."_

_"You wouldn't."_

_"We would."_

It seemed like there was no other choice. Joining the team would save Toby, and keep 'A' away from the two of them. Right?  
Wrong. Everything came crashing down, starting with the very moment Spencer said "_Fine. I'll join you."_


	2. Chapter 2

Spencer's shoes scraped against the pavement as she fled towards her Toyota Highlander. When she reached it her knuckles turned white in a forceful grip around the door handle while the other hand searched for the key. She pulled it open so quickly she thought it might fly off and hit the car right beside her. She climbed inside, a feeling of sickness building in the depths of her abdomen. Then, with just as much speed she slammed the door shut. Her body shook and everything felt cold, but she couldn't cry here, she wouldn't. She jammed the key into the ignition and sped off, eyeing Toby's truck from her rearview mirror as she left.

Her shoulders felt tense, as they always did. She remembered the words Toby would whisper in her ear; _maybe I can help._ She shuddered. It was no secret that he was the only one who knew how to break the tension. She hated that she loved him even after the mess he created. It didn't make sense. Compared to all of her friends, Spencer's personality was the most contradictory. She was not a risk taker by any means, unless she was looking for answers. She also had a very strong wall built around her heart, with wiggle room when it came to one person. Making up her mind was never easy. That's why she could never achieve calmness, her thoughts raced through her mind unbelievably quickly. There was never enough time to fully comprehend each one. As she approached a traffic light where she would have to decide which way to turn and where to go, she made an impulse decision. In that moment, she sent it all to hell. She was going up to the family's lake house unprepared and unannounced. She needed that.

Spencer grabbed her purse and tossed it into the backseat, no distractions. She would get on the highway, roll down the windows and sing like she had just discovered her vocal chords. The world around her seemed to fade and everything moved at the speed of light. The radio blared through the vehicle, infecting the city air with an overplayed top forty song. For once, she wanted everything to be like the movies. She wanted to have that cliche road trip everyone dreamed about. Even if it was to a place she had been a million times before. However, in her head, it was like an alarm was going off. She had a million things to do and her family would expect her at home. What would she tell them? _Whatever._ She muttered to herself. All the other girls were about to move into college, she wanted to get away too. Anyone who knew her would understand why.

She felt some strange sense of freedom while she was in that car. 'A' couldn't possibly be a step ahead of her this time. No one knew where she was driving to. Spencer didn't even know where she was going until she decided to in that split second. The only way that 'A' could know, is if they were following her. She looked behind her, studying the other cars. There was no way. If 'A' was following her, she would have noticed. After all, she used to work with them. She knew exactly how they operated.

Her cell phone blinked wildly through the thin fabric of her purse. _God forbid no one reaches me for an hour, they are probably five minutes from calling in a search team. _She was already eighteen, it was about time everyone started treating her like an adult. If she called someone back right now, she could jeopardize her gain on 'A'. _Half a day away would be the perfect remedy. _Just enough time to allow her to regroup and take the edge off of the morning's events. She would call her family when she was about to leave the lake house. That's the only way Spencer could ensure that she didn't have to worry about 'A'. She was alone, there wasn't any deep dark secret 'A' could discover while she laid out beside the water by herself.

When she reached the correct exit and paid the toll, she rolled up the windows. Spencer was in the peace of the countryside now. She could turn down the radio and enjoy the ever-changing scenery. There were no cars behind her, she smiled. The woods near the property were magical. Everything was a gorgeous shade of emerald. When the sun shone through the leaves, each plant seemed to glow, all of the colors here were rich. The red dirt roads, the completely clear blue sky, somehow this place held more beauty by the minute. A sigh of relief came when she pulled into the driveway. Now she could truly relax.

The thing about being a Hastings was that even if you decided to do something on a whim, it was never really that spontaneous. In a way that Spencer didn't completely understand, no one in her family was ever caught without exactly what they needed at any given time. She had a spare key to the house on her key ring and she probably had a full summer's wardrobe in the guest room closet along with a plethora of bathing suit options. She wouldn't even be surprised if the fridge was fully stocked with fresh fruit. It didn't matter though. As soon as the lock clicked and the doorknob turned freely, she knew she had done it. Without any sort of team effort, she got away. Why hadn't she tried this before?

She jogged up the old wooden staircase to the guest room and opened the closet. Just as she had expected, there were plenty of clothes. Melissa's on the left and Spencer's on the right. She found the hanger closest to the wall where three bathing suits shared a place. One plain blue bikini, one yellow one and the American flag suit she had to wear every fourth of July. _Well that narrows it down to two. _She grabbed the blue one and was about to shut the door, until she saw it. There was a shoebox on the floor. It looked like someone had tried to stuff it in the back of the closet but the edge was sticking out and visible in the small pool of light from the window across the room. Her family may have been almost annoyingly organized, but they didn't keep their shoes in boxes. Spencer picked up the box, it was very light. _Should I look? _

She walked over to the bed, box in hand. Rubbing her thumb back and forth on one of the corners, she thought for a moment. _I don't know if this is a good idea, who knows what's in here? _She shook her head, as if to get rid of the thought. She had to. If it was in that closet, it belonged to Melissa. Obviously this was something she didn't want anyone to see. _Why? _ Before she lost the nerve she ripped the cover off. There were pictures. Pictures of...the new "A' hideout? That's what she guessed, only one thought crossed her mind; a_ picture really was worth a thousand words._


End file.
